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Labour vs Strive - What's the difference?

labour | strive |

As a proper noun labour

is (short for) the labour party.

As a verb strive is

to try to achieve a result; to make strenuous effort; to try earnestly and persistently.

As a noun strive is

(obsolete) an effort; a striving.

labour

English

Alternative forms

* labor (US)

Noun

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada)
  • Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
  • * 1719, (Daniel Defoe), (Robinson Crusoe)
  • That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
  • * (Richard Hooker) (1554-1600)
  • Being a labour of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
  • (uncountable) Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
  • *, chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.}}
  • (uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
  • The act of a mother giving birth.
  • The time period during which a mother gives birth.
  • (nautical) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
  • An old measure of land area in Mexico and Texas, approximately 177 acres.
  • (Bartlett)

    Usage notes

    Like many other words ending in -our''/''-or'', this word is spelled ''labour'' in the UK and ''labor'' in the U.S.; in Canada, ''labour'' is preferred, but ''labor'' is not unknown. In Australia, where ''labour'' is the usual spelling, ''labor'' is nonetheless used in the name of the , reflecting the fact that the ''-or endings had some currency in Australia in the past. * Adjectives often used with "labour": physical, mental, technical, organised.

    Synonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * (The act of a mother giving birth) labour pain

    Verb

    (en-verb) (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada)
  • To toil, to work.
  • To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
  • I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point.
  • To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
  • * Granville
  • the stone that labours up the hill
  • * Alexander Pope
  • The line too labours , and the words move slow.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • to cure the disorder under which he laboured
  • To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
  • (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
  • (Totten)

    strive

    English

    Verb

  • To try to achieve a result; to make strenuous effort; to try earnestly and persistently.
  • He strove to excel.
  • To struggle in opposition; to be in contention or dispute; to contend; to contest.
  • to strive against fate
    to strive for the truth
  • * Denham
  • Now private pity strove with public hate, / Reason with rage, and eloquence with fate.
  • To vie; to compete as a rival.
  • * Milton
  • [Not] that sweet grove / Of Daphne, by Orontes and the inspired / Castalian spring, might with this paradise / Of Eden strive .

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See * The strong or irregular forms "strove" and "striven" are more commonly used in print than "strived".

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An effort; a striving.
  • (Chapman)
  • (obsolete) strife; contention